Martyn Ashton's Bike Ride (On an Airplane, and Other Crazy Places)

Martyn Ashton's Bike Ride (On an Airplane, and Other Crazy Places)

Martyn Ashton, is a mountain biking superstar but he doesn’t exactly stick to mountains. Instead, he’s a trials rider — a sport where cyclists traverse obstacles grouped into “sections” without ever setting foot on the ground. Essentially it’s bike riding meets parkour. Ashton takes to the streets (and various other surfaces) of England in his “road bike party.” He hops his way up and over shrubs, navigates skateparks (and even employs a skateboard at one point), does backflips, and climbs bridges all while seated on his famous bicycle.

The bike is the same model used to win the Tour de France in Paris this past summer. The winner, Bradley Wiggins, took home the title on the handmade carbon fiber bike known as the Pinarello Dogma 2. The bike means business, and costs a pretty penny (in the states, it would run for nearly $16,000). He zooms down grass-covered dunes and a rocky shoreline, comes precariously close to children’s unprotected heads, pulls a series of 360s on top of a small aircraft, and hops up stairs like the Easter bunny.

Vital Question: When you saw the train, were you as petrified as we were that he’d hop his bike on top of it too? I’m sweating just thinking about it. Listen, the dude’s ripped and outrageously skilled at his craft. So uh… don’t try this at home.

What did you think of Ashton's road bike party? Let us know in the comment section below, or tweet the author @nicmcdermott.